History of Metro Area R/C Flying

     It’s been approximately 7 years now since I started Keith’s R/C Flying which was going to be converted into the Omahawk’s web site.  I was then uploading to the web with a free dial-up connection and putting my web space on a free server.

     I purchased the domain name of Omahawks.org and began to prepare to make my web space the official Omahawk’s web site.  I was working with Ollie Olson and was just ready to present our web site proposal to the Omahawk’s when Brad Shaink, one of the newly elected club officers offered to do the Omahawk’s web site.  Brad was a professional web master and much more knowledgeable than myself so he put together the web site instead.  Brad did a great job with the Omahawk’s site, adding features that I would not have known how to do.

     I had been talking about creating a central web site to tie all the Omaha area clubs together within an area of 50 miles. The purpose of the site was to promote R/C flying in general and help clubs build membership, participation in fun flys and other club events and provide a central event schedule so that you could see all the local events in one place.  It would also have information about all the clubs with news letters, s to all events and flying fields etc.  It would not be to replace club web sites, but to help connect flyers from all clubs to the Omaha R/C flying community.

     So, as you all know I created Metro Area R/C Flying and it has been up for about 6 years now.

     I got a high-speed internet connection with Cox when they became available.  Cox allowed you put up web sites in 10 MB pieces.  Approximately 1 ½ years ago I was using about 200 MB’s of web space on Cox that was spread over 20 different separate spaces.

     I needed more space so I came up with a plan to pay for it.  I became a Google and Amazon affiliate and put Google and Amazon ads on my web sites.  This has paid me enough to pay for the new web space and purchase some of the software that I need to have to keep all the web sites going.  It doesn’t pay a lot but it is covering the expenses.

     I was using about 200 MB’s of web space and now I have100,000 MB’s of web space, all in one place.  Therefore I have room for more pictures, videos and newsletters.

New Stuff On Metro

     In the last year, I have added new sections for 3-D Planes, Indoor Flying, Outdoor Electric Planes, Videos & Slide Shows and the

 to help pay for the web space.

     I have recently added a Schedule Archives 2007  & 2008 so you can look up past events.  If there is not yet a new “Event Flyer” for a club event, you can look up the old flyer for last year and get an idea of what this year’s event will be like.

     I’ve also added an Out of Area Schedule for about a 500 mile radius of Omaha.  If it’s an event over 500 miles and I think someone will attend, I will list it.  There is also an Out of Area Schedule Archives 2007 & 2008.

     I would like to get all the events listed for the different specialty groups like Old Timers, Float Flys, Pattern contests, Gliders, 3-D, SPADs, Scale, Jets and Giant Scale.  This is only a partial list; I’m sure there’s many more.  Send me Event Flyers and web sites to events you are interested in and I will list them.

Imbedded iframes

 Links, For Sale, s & Schedule

     I have changed the four Pages listed above so the same page is shown on several different web sites.  This allows the Bellevue R/C Aero Modelers  Midwest Performance Flyers  and Metro Area R/C Flying to display the same page on their web sites.  By doing this, I only have to update one page and it automatically updates the other web sites.

Club Web Sites that I Publish

     There was a problem connecting clubs on a central web site if they had no web site of their own.  To correct this, I started four web sites for Bellevue R/C Aero Modelers, and Midwest Performance Flyers. 

     Some of the clubs were low on members.  One club has been able to rebuild their membership to comfortable levels again due partly to the web site.

     The Fremont Frontier Flyers are still very low on members, which makes it difficult for them to keep and maintain their flying site.  I have often tried to think of a way that the Omaha clubs could help them.  If anyone has an idea please e-mail me.  If you do not have my e-mail address, you can just click on any e-mail link, on any of my web sites, and the e-mail will come directly to me.

     The South 40 Field is about an hour east of Council Bluffs, located on a farm.  Rather than starting a web site for them, I put a contact sheet up with instructions how to get there. 

Services

     If you have an event that you would like to advertise, e-mail the details to me and I will send out an e-mail mailing to all the area club members.

     I don’t mail on any schedule, usually just when someone requests it.  So remember you must contact me if you would like me to send out a notice.

     I do all the mailing manually.  If you request to be dropped from the mailing list, I will immediately take your name off the list.  Many of the mailings that you get now don’t take your name off when you request it.  I believe that an honest, reputable web site should respect your right to privacy.

Services

     You can send pictures of your planes and I will put them up.  It’s nice to be able to show everyone your latest planes and equipment, so send them in and show off a little!  Be sure to include descriptions and stories about your stuff.  It makes it more interesting to everyone.

Thank You's

     I want to thank everyone who regularly sends in material, especially “Big” Ed Paasch and his wife, who’s a great photographer, Nelson Carpenter, Dean Dingman, Dick Behrens and many, many others who have contributed.

Editor Keith Paskewitz